1st Oregon News Minute from the AP

Date: 12/19/2014 03:59 AM

AP-OR–1st NewsMinute/276
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – Gov. John Kitzhaber has nominated Lynne Saxton to head the Oregon Health Authority. Saxton will take over an agency at the center of controversy following the failure of the Cover Oregon health insurance website. Dr. Bruce Goldberg resigned as the agency’s director earlier this year after a report pinned part of the Cover Oregon failure on poor state oversight.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Uber says it’s suspending operations in Portland for three months to work out its differences with city officials, less than two weeks after the ride-hailing app’s launch was greeted with a lawsuit. Uber’s general manager says Portland is working to update its regulations for private for-hire transportation that would allow Uber to operate.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – The Oregon Supreme Court has ruled that a ski resort’s liability waiver cannot prevent a paralyzed snowboarder from suing. The justices ruled that it’s not in the public interest to allow the Mount Bachelor resort’s liability waiver to stand. To win, the snowboarder will have to convince a jury that the ski resort was negligent in designing, building and maintaining the ski jump. A ski resort lawyer says he’s confident the resort will win at trial.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Multnomah County commissioners have chosen their preferred site for a new courthouse in downtown Portland – and a backup site. The Oregonian reports that commissioners chose an L-shaped lot that the county already owns at the west end of the Hawthorne Bridge. They named a block-sized parking lot near the Marriott Hotel as the backup. A new courthouse is expected to cost about $250 million.

 

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